1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to computer implemented methods, computer storage media, and data processing systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to computer implemented methods, computer storage media, and data processing systems for a vehicle usage-based tolling privacy protection architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many local and national governments have congestion issues on their road networks, as well as increasing demand for renewed action on emissions control. Many governments are now considering road use charging solutions as a means to both measure a variety of cost of use metrics and to reflect these costs back to their originators in an effort to impact behavior positively. Road use charging solutions usually determine the cost of use metrics and the associated fees on the basis of some combination of three forms of information collected with varying levels of coverage and granularity: distance, location, and time-of-day.
Solutions have been deployed that implement the collection of this information and the processing of this information into metrics and fees using a plurality of methods. These methods may require adding hardware to vehicles, centralized processing of cast amounts of positional information, and these methods may also require the installation of large and expensive infrastructures of detection equipment within the road network itself.
Design tradeoffs have been made largely on the basis of cost. As a result, applications to small geographical areas with high vehicle densities tend to favor road side infrastructure and centralized processing. Applications to large geographical areas with lower vehicle densities tend to favor on-board equipment and decentralized processing.
Trusted computing (TC) is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group. The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialized meaning. With Trusted Computing, the computer will consistently behave in specific ways, and those behaviors will be enforced by hardware and software. Enforcing this trusted behavior is achieved by loading the hardware with a unique ID and a unique master key and denying even the owner of computer knowledge and control of their own master key.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus which takes into account one or more of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.